Tide turns for water purification plan

Amy Dorman, senior civil engineer with the city of San Diego's Public Utilities Department holds a sample of water purified to the quality level of pure distilled water at the Advanced Water Purification Facility in University City at the North City Water Reclamation Plant.
— Howard Lipin

Amy Dorman, senior civil engineer with the city of San Diego's Public Utilities Department holds a sample of water purified to the quality level of pure distilled water at the Advanced Water Purification Facility in University City at the North City Water Reclamation Plant.
— Howard Lipin

Nearly a decade ago, a city survey showed that three-quarters of San Diegans turned up their noses at the thought of using wastewater purified into tap water — a process that critics snubbed as “toilet to tap.”

Last week the City Council voted to move ahead with a plan to purify 15 million gallons per day of recycled wastewater, confident that the tide of public opinion had turned in its favor. The decision was bolstered by a recent poll showing 73 percent of San Diegans now supporting the process.

Council members voted unanimously to pursue a full-scale plant to purify city wastewater, and asked staff to report back with detailed cost and construction estimates. They expect to vote on a final plan in about a year, and construction of a plant and pipeline could take another decade.

The shift, officials said, reflects years of outreach about the safety of purified water and changing opinions among city leaders, along with hard lessons on dwindling water supply and soaring rates. Squeamishness about reusing flushed flows has given way to the reality of water shortages.

“There’s been more of a dialogue in the state about water availability, and I think people are more informed about water,” said Councilman David Alvarez, who chairs the city’s Natural Resources and Culture Committee, which helped develop the purification plan.

For two years the city has run a demonstration project, filtering a million gallons of recycled water per day through a series of treatments, to produce a product of the same crystalline quality as distilled water.

Most San Diegans are fine with that, according to a poll of 816 city residents conducted by San Diego State University researcher Richard Parker. It found that 73 percent somewhat or strongly favored treating recycled water for use in drinking supplies, up from just 26 percent in 2004.

Yes
42% (152)

No
58% (211)

Street signs at the Advanced Water Purification Facility in University City at the North City Water Reclamation Plant.

To persuade residents of its safety, city officials have drawn up educational materials and produced a short video about water purification. They’ve hosted tours of the demonstration project for civic, school and scout groups. Local opinion makers have weighed in as well.

In 2007, for example, former Mayor Jerry Sanders stated at a news conference that he would oppose “toilet-to-tap,” according to a TV report. Three years later, Sanders told Voice of San Diego that he supported the project, adding that he wouldn’t “quibble with scientists.”

Advocates of the project point out that purifying water is hardly new. Nature has been doing it forever, and still filters water through the systems we rely on for imports. Scores of water treatment facilities dump their product into the waterways of the Colorado River and the State Water Project, far upstream of San Diego.

Related

A city report describes the proposed purification process as the “urban water cycle” - a “sped-up version” of natural filtration.

“The study showed that the water, once purified, is cleaner than the water that is flowing through out taps right now,” said Lani Lutar, executive director of the Equinox Center, and co-founder of the San Diego Water Reliability Coalition, an unusual alliance of business and environmental groups. “In fact, the water that comes out of our taps right now has been recycled dozens of times over.”